19 free Cloud storage options

From relatively new companies such as Box and DropBox, to heavyweights Google, Apple and Microsoft, many vendors use free Cloud storage as a way to entice users into their clouds in hopes that they will pay more for additional volumes and services.

Below, in alphabetical order, are 19 free Cloud services - but a word of caution: The Cloud is a volatile place and offers from these vendors change frequently.

ADrive

The deal: 50GB of free cloud storage.

Details: ADrive may not be very well known, but it offers a compelling deal. The catch is it's an advertiser-supported platform, so you get a lot of storage space, but a lot of ads too. For 100GB, plans start at $2.50 per month or $25 per year. ADrive has some basic features, such as sharing and backup, but its business and enterprise account offer encryption and multi-user access.

Details: Amazon Cloud Drive no longer offers a completely free consumer-oriented cloud storage service, but Amazon Prime members get free unlimited cloud storage for photos with their subscription, which costs $99 per year and includes free two-day shipping on eligible Amazon.com products. For non Amazon-prime members, unlimited photos can be stored for $12 per year after a free three-month trial. For $60 per year, Amazon offers an "Unlimited Everything" plan, which allows any file or document to be stored.

Amazon's business-oriented cloud storage service named the Simple Storage Service (S3) has a free tier of up to 5GB.

Details: Apple iCloud Drive comes with 5GB of free storage. Users looking to bump up their storage can do so for 99 cents month for 20GB, $4 per month for 200GB and $20 per month for 1TB. ICloud is meant for Apple users, but there is an iCloud app for the Windows. Android users would have to use a third-party app to access their iCloud storage.

Details: Box offers a number of plans, but the basic, single-user free plan comes with 10GB of storage, with a 250MB file upload size limit. The company's other plans are targeted at teams and businesses and include more stringent security measures. A "starter" package for $5 per month comes with 100GB of storage and a 2GB file size limit for up to 10 users. A Business account for $15 per month includes unlimited storage with a 5GB file size limit. Custom-priced enterprise plans are also available.

Details: Copy is a cloud service by Barracuda Networks, an IT company specializing in security and storage. For $5 per month or $49 per year users can get 250GB of storage. There's also an EFSS product named Copy for Companies that starts at $699 for 500GB on a dedicated virtual appliance.

Details: Made by LogMeIn, Cubby offers additional plans starting at $4 for 100GB of storage. Users can choose many other amounts, including more than 2TBs for $100 per month. There are also business plans that come with additional security and sharing capabilities.

Details: One of the original and most popular cloud storage products, DropBox used to offer 5GB free, now it only offers 2GB. For $10 per month users can upgrade to DropBox Pro, which comes with 1TB of space. DropBox for business, for $15 per user/month provides unlimited storage.

Details: Users can get up to 21GB by referring friends to Dump Truck -- beyond that additional storage starts at $5 per 50GBs or $50 per month for 500GB (there are other options of plans in between those). VPN provider Golden Frog hosts it.

Details: If you need more than the 15GB, for $2 per month customers get 100GB of storage, and for $10 per month customers receive 1TB of storage. Any data associated with your Google email account counts against your Drive storage limit, but anything stored in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides does not count against the 15GB limit. Small photos are stored for free in Google, but those larger than 2048x2048 count against your storage.

Details: It's free and unlimited, but it does come with catches. First, it's ad-supported. Second, there are no desktop or mobile apps, so users have to access Hive directly through the website and while sharing is allowed, users must pay for HD stream sharing and customers can only share with other Hive users. Paid plans start at $8 per month, which allows for HD streaming and removes ads.

Details: Founded by Internet provocateur Kim Dotcom, Mega offers one of the more enticing deals in the cloud: 50GB of free storage. Users can get 4TB for about $9 per month (the company uses Euros). A word of caution: Mega does not store users' passwords, so the company recommends you keep a secondary backup of files stored in the service. Basically this means that if you lose your password, Mega can't help you recover it.

Details: Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) now comes with 15GB of free storage, with 100GB for $2 per month, while up to 1TB costs $7 per month. Microsoft offers other goodies too, including an extra 15GB of storage when you backup your camera roll to OneDrive, and customers can get an extra 5GB by referring friends (refer up to 10 friends at 500MB free for each friend). Microsoft Office, which gives access to Microsoft apps such as Word, Excell and Outlook, costs $7 per month (or $70 per year) and comes with 1TB of storage.

Details: pCloud offers initial customers 10GB of free storage and users can get up to an additional 10GB by inviting friends to the service. For even more space, pCloud offers 500GB for $4 per month or $8 per month for 1TB. PCloud started in 2013 and is based in Switzerland.

Details: SpiderOak markets itself as a secure cloud storage service with its "Zero-Knowledge" promise, which means it encrypts customer data and does not store it in plain text. Other plans include: 30GB for $7 per month or 1TB for $12 per month ($129 annually).

Details: StreamNation is meant to store photos, videos and long-form movies. It comes with sharing privileges and paid accounts give offline access to the media (so you can watch it on an airplane, for example). The service comes with a basic package of 20GB free, although users may have to refer friends or follow the company on social media sites to get that full amount. Additional storage runs $4 for 100GB, and $14 per month for 1TB. Those prices increase by $1 each if customers pay month-to-month instead of commit to a full year of service.

Details: Syncplicity is EMC's enterprise file synch and share service (EFSS), which is meant to compete with Box. It offers a personal plan that comes with 10GB free per month and has other business-oriented plans starting at $60 per month, which comes with 300GB, plus 5GB for each user.

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